operation MATRYOSHKA
by Midnight Hashiri
Summary: The last thing Gumi had expected was to be attacked by a girl who looked like her. Turns out, her [reality] is fading. With every strip of fabric torn down, a new reality is revealed. Is this real, or is that? Which reality do you belong to? Which do you prefer? "Welcome to operation MATRYOSHKA. I welcome you with open arms." Why don't you find out? T for audience. [PROLOGUE UP]


operation **MATRYOSHKA **

_Prologue: My Fading Reality _**[Gumi]**

_Riiiiiiiing. _The loud ringing of the carrot-shaped alarm clock was restless, the red '7:00' flashing restlessly.

Gumi sighed as she turned over in her bed. She opened one emerald eye and glared at the alarm clock. "It's nine already..." she muttered as she sighed, slamming a pale fist on button of her alarm. Peace returned to her mind momentarily, but the peace was cut short when her door burst open.

_Here we go again. _

"Gumi!" Gumi sighed as she sat up groggily. She squinted at the girl standing in front of her bed, her sight unfocused and fuzzy. Her head was pounding, and moments like these made the green-haired girl lose focus on reality.

"What?" she yawned, shaking her head and pulling open the drawer of her carrot-themed table beside her bed, jostling her alarm clock. Her eyes scanned the contents of the drawer, before making a clumsy grab for a small blue bottle. The label on the bottle was peeled off, but Gumi recognized the bottle.

"Aspirins? You were up partying last night _again_?" Gumi could hear the disapproval in the other girl's voice.

After swallowing a couple tablets, she felt the hammering in her head stopping and she saw the girl standing in front of her, wearing a white shirt and blue miniskirt with yellow folds. A blazer was tied around her waist and she wore a pair of knee-high black stockings. She set the bottle down on Gumi's dresser and adjusted the red tie around her collar. Her brown hair flowed down her back in straight waves, and her soft features accentuated her caramel eyes perfectly.

Gumi shrugged as she kicked off her carrot-themed comforter and slid down her bed. "I guess I was, what about it? Weekends are meant for parties."

"You're a mess Gumi, and so is your room." Kokone frowned and shook her head.

Her room was indeed a mess. The walls were painted orange and green consecutively, and the floorboard was wooden and covered in her clothing. An orange armchair rested near her bed carrying a bunch of dirty laundry. Her window was on her bed's right side, with the orange curtains drawn, and a bunch of framed pictures around the window. Her dressers were opened, and some of the drawers were even on the ground, her underwear spilling everywhere.

Kokone frowned as she knelt down and picked up a black lace underwear. "Gumi!" she said condescendingly.

Blushing, Gumi stood in front of the drawers, and gently plucked the underwear from Kokone.

"And look over here!" She walked over to the orange closet on the far end of Gumi's room, and grabbed the green handles. She pulled open the doors, and barely sidestepped the junk that tumbled out of the closet. She whirled around, and nearly tripped over a hardcover book. She picked it up her face turned crimson. "God, what are you even reading?"

Gumi walked over with a puzzled face and looked at the book's cover over Kokone's shoulder. _50 Shades of Gray - Hardcover Edition_. Blushing again, she snatched the book from Kokone and hid it behind her back. Then she realized that her all her books were all over the reading area of her room.

Kokone glared at a very embarrassed Gumi. "Well?"

"I'll clean it up during term break," she promised as she stacked the hardcover on another stack of hardcovers, and tossed the lace underwear onto the armchair. "I promise."

Sighing, Kokone walked out of the room. "Just, get ready for class, okay?" Gumi nodded and walked over to her bathroom.

At least her bathroom wasn't covered in tampons. It was remotely neat.

Gumi stared at her reflection in the mirror hanging above the sink. Her green hair was a mess, and locks of hair framing her face was tangled. She was fairly white, but not pale like Kokone. Unlike Kokone, who was tall and slim, she was rather heavy on the bust and butt department, it was accentuated even more in her jammies - a white Taco Bell T-shirt and green boxers. Her collarbones were sharp and visible, and her shoulders were straight and drawn back.

But she hated it. Every other girl would kill for her figure and face, but she hated every bit of it.

* * *

Kokone smiled as Gumi trotted down the stairs. "I'm going on ahead first, I'm meeting up with Tianyi." She had white ribbons in her hair and her blazer was buttoned. She wrapped a translucent scarf around her neck, and slipped into her shoes. "We're going to watch a movie today. Wanna join us?" She opened the door, the cold wind making her tie flap.

Gumi shook her head. "I'm hanging out with the gang," she smiled as she waved at Kokone. "Besides, your friend don't seem to like me much."

"Of course, your friends aren't exactly _all _good," smiled Kokone as she shut the door behind her. Gumi sighed as she picked up her red hoodie. One of her friends had designed it for her, and named it _Matryoshka_. As in the Russian doll. The zip traced around the perimeters of the jacket and you could zip the entire jacket up. It had a crazed face on the back of the hood, but Gumi thought it was cool.

She wore the jacket over a white shirt with a school badge on the back with her school's name, Harimoto Academy, written above the badge, black shorts, and brown stockings. She grabbed her checkered schoolbag off the hanger and slipped her arms into the straps and her feet into a pair of brown riding boots.

Kokone had left her a copy of the keys to their shard house. Both of them shared a small two-story house not far from their school. Both of them were in different schools; Kokone was in a semi-prestigious school, and Gumi was in a sports school. They were both from the same middle school in Fukuoka and were fairly close to each other. But they also acknowledge the fact that they have their own lives, and they don't expect each other to drop their friends to hang out with each other.

Gumi zipped up her jacket and wore a pair of brown gloves. She opened the door and cold air blasted into her face. She shivered as she wrapped an orange muffler around her neck. It was the beginning of winter, but it wasn't _that _cold yet.

She locked the door behind her and started walking towards the train station. Gumi's school doesn't have any uniform or dress code - you just need to wear the badge; Kokone's school, Sekirei High, on the other hand, demanded that their students wear the school's blazer and the custom-tailored blue miniskirt with yellow folds. Kokone had wanted to enroll into Big Al's Cooking Academy, but she was rejected.

Big Al was a famous chef. He debuted in France, but returned to Japan after breaking up with an actress not long ago.

"My dream was to become a chef, but I want to create a generation of good chefs too," he said on an interview once. He was announcing the opening of his culinary school, and it had caught Gumi's short-spanned attention. She _had _thought of entering, but she quickly dismissed the thought. She had successfully enrolled into Harimoto, and she wasn't about to give that up.

She loved sports.

Being accepted into Harimoto was like a dream come true to her. It's one of the more prestigious sports academy in Japan, and she was so happy that she wouldn't shut up about it for weeks. But as she was entering her second year of junior high, she could feel the passion for sports fading. She's in her third year of junior high now, and she could barely feel the passion for sports.

She walked to the train station everyday to meet up with her friend, and they would walk to school together. "Morning, Gumi!"

Gumi smiled as she saw her friend. "Meiko! You're early today! It's only..." she glanced at the clock on the train station, "...three quarters past seven!" Meiko was in her second year of senior high, and seniors were usually more laid back than their juniors.

Meiko smiled. She had short brown hair and a pair of deep brown eyes. She was tall and voluptuous, and her beauty was undeniable. Rewind three years ago, Meiko Sakine was still an A-cup and she had curly long hair. Boys used to laugh and make fun of her. Now? Men steal glances at her and talk about her within them. She very talented at the sport she practiced too. Her beauty was unparalleled...

"Luka!" Meiko smiled as she saw a flicker of pink hair.

...except for her best and childhood friend, Luka Megurine. The pinkette turned around and smiled. Her emerald eyes were large and glassy, and looked right through Gumi at Meiko. A soft smile crossed her cherry lips and she waved. She was a student at Yamagishi High, a few stops from where she lived. According to Meiko, she has a hard time dealing with "disgusting" stares from men and wears a blazer over her sailor uniform (although the blazer seemed to enhance her figure more than hide it).

She was a rather unfocused person. It's almost as if... she's surfacing and drowning in reality.

"I'm going to take the underground to school today..." Luka trailed off, smiling apologetically at Meiko.

"It's okay, I have my little kouhai here," grinned Meiko as she wrapped an arm around Gumi's neck. If Gumi was any weaker, she'd be caught in Meiko's headlock.

Luka smiled and walked down the steps leading to the underground. "I still find it convenient that the underground and train is connected," Gumi sighed as she slipped out of Meiko's grip. Meiko shrugged and they walked towards their school.

"Get used it, took me three years too." Meiko took a sip out of her bottle.

Gumi sighed as she stretched, her chest bouncing as she did so. "Megurine-san was rather unfocused today," she noted as she turned to face Meiko. Meiko shrugged and stared ahead, her eyes drifting far away.

"I don't know." Meiko said sadly, a sad smile on her face. "I really don't know."

* * *

Gumi sighed as she tried to focus on the words on the blackboard. The words were fuzzy and seemed to change every second. _What's going on? _She rubbed her eyes, but nothing had changed.

"Gumi, please carry the workbooks to the staff room." Gumi nodded and picked up the stack and carried them to the staff room. What class was this again? She stared at the workbooks. ...Advanced Mathematics.

_I thought I was a sports student. _

Gumi frowned and stared at the back of her teacher. What was her teacher's name? She had brown hair that she tied into a ponytail. No, wait, she had short yellow hair. She sighed as she gave up and piled the books on the desk. "Thanks for the hard work," the teacher smiled. But it wasn't a good natured smile, it was more of a I-know-something-and-you-don't smile. "Don't stay out too late." For a moment there, she looked like... Gumi.

"Weird," she said as she exited the room. She had to tell... did she have friends? _I don't know. _Meiko's words rung in her head.

"Do you really?" She turned around and saw herself... with black hair and wearing black, with a pair of gleaming silver scissors in her hands. She cocked her head to the side, and grinned. A pair of goggles materialized on her head.

Everything around them suddenly faded to black. Gumi panicked as she turned around, and her panic started rising when she saw no one.

"Tell me," the black Gumi started walking towards Gumi. Gumi realized suddenly that she was wearing the same outfit as her counterpart, but her outfit was a shade lighter, and she had on orange stockings. "Coward."

Gumi gulped and took a step back. "What are you talking about?"

"Tell me, Gumi," her grin widened. "Enlighten me."

"_You _enlighten me," Gumi snapped. The other girl smiled in amusement. She shook her head. "Wrong answer. Operation annihilation: begin." With that, her eyes glowed red and scissors surrounded them.

The girl smiled. "Enlighten me!" She roared and flicked her hand forward, and the scissors surged forward with the intent to kill.

_Gumi. Wake up. _

The scissors were sharp and cut her. "Aah! Stop!" She sidestepped a pair of scissors, but it turned around and dived at her. "Stop!" The scissors pierced her thigh and she screamed in pain. She fell down and gripped her thigh, wincing. She felt someone jostle her and glared at the other girl with tears in her eyes.

_It's not real for fuck's sake! _

She plucked the scissors out of her thigh and threw it at the other girl. But it just went right through her. "What..." Before she could register what happened, she felt something pierce her stomach. She looked down, and saw blood pooling around her. The pain shot through every fiber of her being and she screamed in pain. The pain in her thigh was nothing compared to this.

Her counterpart loomed over her, hands behind her back and grinning. "Go to sleep, dear," she hushed and lifted a pair of scissors over Gumi. It dangled above her dangerously. "This world is mine now."

She slammed the scissors down and Gumi shut her eyes tight. One second. Two. Three. She heard the clatter of metal and her eyes slammed open and she saw Meiko wrestling with the other girl. "Your reality is falling apart, Gumi! You have to get out, _now_." Gumi felt someone carry her bridal style and looked up. "Woah there, calm down," she felt a gloved hand on her neck. "Careful or you'll get whiplash. I'm taking her out, Mei. Stay put." Meiko nodded.

He ran towards the exit without much trouble. _He must be strong. _Gumi noted.

"Your blood and pain isn't real," he said. Gumi tilted her head up and saw a head of blue hair. He looked down and smiled at her. "I know how you feel... but Mei's got it the hardest. She was the first of us." Gumi was confused, but she had lost too much blood. Why isn't he stopping her wounds?

_Isn't real. _Gumi's eyelids were heavy. She lowered her eyelids slowly. Just as she was about to fall asleep, she felt a jolt and she landed on the ground.

"That her? She's cute," she heard someone say.

"True, but Mei is in there."

"Meiko-sama will come out soon."

"Alright. Let's help her first, her reality is crumbling _really _fast."

"I can tell. That's hers right? What happened to her?"

"Shh. That's taboo."

Gumi felt someone hovering over her, but she could care less - she was confused and tired. Just as she was about to fall asleep, someone had smacked his lips against hers. When she opened her eyes, a bunch of people was sitting around her, and Meiko was standing behind them, peering at her over their heads.

"Welcome to operation **MATRYOSHKA**." A girl with green twin tails smiled and extended a hand for Gumi to shake. "I'm Miku, and I welcome you with open arms."

* * *

**(a/n): Hey there... it's Middy here. I'm sorry if this isn't as good as well, the next story you're about to read. But thanks in advance if you _do _decide to leave a review or follow/fav this story! Cheers, Middy. On a side note, everything will be explained in the next chapter.**


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